The Sun is not Mello
by Jedi Healer
Summary: Mello left the orphanage after L died to catch Kira on his own. He left Matt and Sun behind. Five years later Mello contacts Matt asking for help, and Sun can't watch another friend go.
1. Death

**Stay tuned for updates! I'm just starting this story, so please bear with me XD. I hope you like the character so far. I thought she fit nicely into the world of Death Note. Oh, and music wise, most of the lyrics I may add are most likely from Rise Against, Linkin Park, Flyleaf, or Paramore (there may be some exceptions..) And also, I think a song that goes really good with the mood of Mello leaving, and abandoning Matt and Sun is "Shadow of the Day" by Linkin Park. X).**

The story may get out to a slow start, but I promise it will get more interesting as you go, so please read on after the first chapter! : ) And sorry if there's too much drama; I think I need to edit that...

**First, here's a short character description of Sun...**

* * *

Sun is a smart, short tempered, attractive girl. She was ranked 4th in the line to become L's successor before Near and Mello left.

Sun's two best friends were Mello and Matt, growing up in the orhpanage. They were a tight, close trio, Matt like her older brother...And Mello, her antagonist, but deep down, they both harbored deeper feelings for one another that were never recognized all the time spent living at Wammy's.

She has golden blonde hair a shade lighter than Mello's, and slightly spiky, its length a few inches past her shoulders. Her eyes are a golden hazel (her appearance is the reason for her Alias, Sun). She likes to work out and run (is very athetic), and plays video games with Matt all the time. She usually wears jeans, grey, or cargo pants, hoodies/jackets and tank tops, generally in the color range of tan, crimson, blak, and grey. Later she gets a tattoo of the emblem for a sun on her chest.

Basic Profile

Birthday: March 22, 1990

Real Name: [Uknown]

Age: 18

Height: 5'5

Hair Color: blonde

Relations: Matt; Mello

Knowledge: 6/10

Coceptualization Powers: 9/10

Will to Act: 9/10

Motivation: 10/10

Social Skills: 8/10

* * *

[December 5, 2007]

Roger got the text, later, after already hearing of his old friend, Watari's passing. The news was expected to follow, and he was not surprised when it came. The small screen of the cell phone was blank, except for three words--three words that meant sure tragedy.

_"L is dead."_

Mello and Near, L's two top candidates to become his successor, were before him, inside of his spacious office, Near kneeling on the ground, ressembling and dissasembling a blank white puzzle, currently in the proccess of reassembling, while Mello stood tall on the left. He had called them here to tell them of the news.

"What is it, Roger?" Mello asked, seeing the grim, crestfallen look on the old man's face, as he sat there in the chair in front of them, with his hands clasped in front of his face.

"It's L. He's dead."

Mello just stared. His brain could not comprehend what his ears had just heard. "--What was that?! Roger--What did you just say?!" he then exclaimed, not believing it. Roger again repeated the news, his voice more faint.

"I'm afraid L is dead."

The blonde teenagers eyes went wide, a gasp escaping him.

"L is dead??" He repeated, leaning forward onto the desk urgently. "But-but how?!" He was in denial. How could this be? _How_?! He put both hands on the smooth oak surface, leaning foward further, demanding "Was it Kira? Did Kira kill him? Come on Roger, you've got to tell me!!"

"...Probably." Roger answered sadly.

Mello reached fowad and grabbed the elder's rich brown coat, pulling him foward, abandoning all self-control.

"But he promised me he'd find Kira and execute him! And now you're telling me--that he's been_ killed_??"

"Mello!" Roger exlaimed, at the boy's unrestrained outrage. Mello's grip loosened, then dropped, when albino boy behind him turned the puzzle upside down again, over his head, and he heard its peices crashing to the floor. Mello turned to look at him, uttering a small noise of startlement. What was he--?

Near held the board over his head, his pale fingers on either side of the edges of the rectangular board. Then, with both Roger's and Mello's eyes on him, he commented blatantly in his smooth, quiet voice,

"If you can't win the game..." He said, putting the first two white peices back onto the board, in the top left corner, as the blonde watched him. "If you can't solve the puzzle..." He placed two more pieces onto the board. "Then you're just a looser."

Mello stared at him, bitter feelings and hatred stirring within him, as they always did whenever he looked at the albino freak. Then, he let out a tense breath. He turned back to Roger, fisting his hand onto the desk determinedly.

"So--which of us did L pick? me, or Near?" He asked urgently. Roger answered, after a few beats,

"He hadn't chosen yet. And now that he's gone, I'm afraid he won't be able to." Mello stared at him, dreading. He let out a breath.

"Mello, listen." Roger said. "You too, Near. --Can't the two of you work together?" He asked.

Near answered, almost immediately, "Alright, sounds good." Mello clenched his teeth.

"It'll never work, Roger." He contradicted, with bitter dissent. "We can't do this together. You know I don't get along with Near. We've _always _competed against each other. _Always_."

A silence fell upon them. The distant wind blew softly outside, it's quiet howl faintly heard from within the office. Roger sat there, knowing there was no convincing Mello to work with his rival. The boy was much too stubborn, and headstrong to listen. After the long moment of silence, Mello said,

"You know what? It's fine. Near should be the one to succeed L. He's not like me. He never gets emotional. He just uses his head. Like it's a game, or a puzzle." Near just finished putting together the blank puzzle again, placing the last peice onto the board, listening to Mello.

"And as for me, I'm leaving this institution." Mello said, and turned, to walk out.

Roger stood-- "Wait, Mello--!" He exclaimed in objection.

"Don't waste your breath." The blonde said, walking past Near. "I'm almost 15 years old. It's time I start living my _own _life." He walked out, the door shutting starkly behind him.

* * *

Matt watched his friend packing his stuff up into one large, simple suitcase, with an unlit ciggerette in his mouth, in his usual get-up.

"What's going on? Whatcha doin?" He asked casually, confused at the sight.

Mello stopped packing for a moment, and looked over at him.

"Matt..." He said, as the other waited for him to answer his question. He answered it bluntly. "I'm leaving the orphanage." He said, and resumed his packing, throwing leather pants and belts into the suitcase.

"Huh?"

"L is dead." He deadpanned, sadly.

Matt stared at Mello, shocked, but knowing that his friend wasn't lying. Mello would never lie about something like this.

"He's dead?" He repeated. "I didn't see that one coming." Matt leaned against the doorway. "So who'd he pick? You or Near?"

"He hadn't chosen." Mello answered. "But Near is the obvious choice to assume his title. As for me, I'm going to catch Kira on my own. There is no way I'm gonna let Near be better than me. I'm going to do whatever it takes to beat him."

"And that is?"

Mello sighed. "I'm going to start my own investigation. I can't tell you where it's going to be. You don't need to know."

"Oh yeah?" Matt said, not really caring that it had to be a 'secret'. Mello stopped to look at him.

"Yes." He said, returning to his packing.

Matt knew there was no stopping Mello, not know. He was set on his goal. And he would do anything to achieve it.

"What about Sun?" He asked.

"What about her?" Mello replied bluntly. Matt didn't answer him. Obviously, Mello wasn't going to even say goodbye to her. That was a terrible way to end things, with a gal like her. She would hate him forever. But he didn't say anything. It was Mello's problem, not his. If he wanted to just blow her off like that, then fine. He could deal with the consequences on his own.

Matt knew that the two had been really tense lately, but he didn't have a clue why. And it looked like there was nothing he could do to fix it. So, he just left it...It was none of his business. Matt looked at the blonde again, as he placed boxes of chocolate on top of his meager stack of clothes. It was kind of hard to believe that his best friend was just leaving like this, after growing up in the orhanage alongside him...

"Guess this is good-bye, then." Matt said.

"Yeah." Mello replied tersely.

_I'm going to be the one to catch Kira. Whatever it takes. I _will _avenge L's death. _He was completely blind to the fact that he was abandoning his friends, and leaving them in the dark. Like he didn't _care_.

Later, at nearly 9:00pm, dark outside and in the hallway. Mello went down the hall, knowing that Sun was in her room, because he had seen her go in it a while ago. He paused at her door, then stuck the paper into the crack, slipping it with care in between the door and the frame. His eyes were tinged with unadmitted reluctance to leave her this way. He paused, standing there for a while, a long time.

Then he took off the rosary that he wore around his neck, and hung it on the doorknob, then left, without a word, carrying only a suitcase filled with his belongings with him, heading towards the goal that he would stop at nothing to achieve, and leaving his past behind.

--

_I'm sorry. Goodbye._

-Mello


	2. When You Left

_"No, oh, how could you do it?_  
_Oh I, I never saw it coming._  
_No, oh, I need the ending._  
_So why can't you stay_  
_Just long enough to explain?"_

* * *

[December 6, 2007]

The very next day Sun found the note left by Mello before he had taken off, wedged outside in her door. (She had been inside her room studying for an upcoming exam, until she fell asleep.

She gripped the paper in her hand, and stared at the words for a long, long time, shocked out of her mind. Along with the note, he'd left behind a necklace, his crimson rosary, hanging on the door handle.

The first question that had come to her mind was: Where had he gone? She stood there gaping at the note in disbelief. She couldn't bring hereself to believe he'd just leave like this, so suddenly...How could he? This couldn't be real...There had to be some explanation.

Sun bounded down the hall, towards Mello's bedroom. She turned the handle abruptly, swinging the door open hard, slamming it against the wall. She stood there and looked, expecting everything to still be there. But as the door flew open, her eyes were met with the sight of an utterly empty room. Not a trace of Mello's existance, nothing.

She saw _nothing _inside, but bare furniture, the wooden floor swept clean. No leather clothes, or chocolate wrappers strewn about the floor...Nothing. And a pool of dread sunk inside of her. It was...true. Everything that defined Mello was just...gone. Sun breathed, utterly shocked, her thoughts spinning around inside of her head. She stood in the room in silence, still holding the note and the roasry that Mello had left behind in her hand. A deep ache rose up in her throat, she swallowed it. But it didn't go away.

Then, a familiar young male voice spoke behind her. "He's gone." He said. Sun turned and saw Matt standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame, looking at her. She dropped her head, and stared at the floor, as he explained, gazing off at the far wall, his eyes glazed. "He said he was gonna catch Kira on his own...and just left. Went off on his own and dissappeared...No one could stop him."

Sun soaked in the solemn fact, standing there motionless. She didn't understand why Mello would just _vanish_ like this... not even _caring _enough to give an explanation, or say goodbye face to face. She felt betrayed, and angry. How could he do this? Why would he do this to her? Weren't they friends...? Didn't she have the right to know why he was leaving...where he was going? It was like Mello had just discarded her, like she meant nothing to him.

"Why?" She asked, aloud. To herself, she guessed that he just didn't care. That he hadn't thought it through...And he would pay for that. She didn't know anything, except that Mello was gone, and he wasn't returning.

"L died. He hadn't chose a successor yet, and Mello refused to work with Near, so he left." Matt said.

Sun chewed this over, head bowed. She soon crumpled the note in her hand, and then quickly went out of the room, accidentally brushing past Matt, but she didn't utter any word of apology, she just left without a word. She ran down the hall, angry tears streaming down her face, fist clenched, her heart hurting, and inside, broken to peices- but she would never admit that.

Matt watched Sun go, knowing that she would not want him to follow her. He stared at the empty hallway where she had left for a moment, then leaned back against the doorway, sighing and running a gloved hand through his brown hair. Then he went over and sat down on the empty bed, holding his head in his hands.

What was _he_ supposed to do now? Mello had been his best friend, one of his only. Now that he was gone, all Matt had to care about was Sun, and maybe himself. He had to rethink his life.

Mello had left them both, and not really thought about what they would be like without him after he was gone. Matt didn't know if Mello had gone out of his life for good, but he did know one thing- he certainly wasn't coming back here. And Matt wouldn't be able to follow Mello's trail, because Mello wouldn't leave one for anyone to follow. And no matter how good of a computer hacker and amazing genius Matt was, he knew he wouldn't be able to track Mello down, the way he had left.

So now they were just going to deal with it.

* * *

For days after Mello had taken off, Sun sort of acted like a stranger at Wammy's House. She was inoordinately irritable and angry, and just couldn't be reached, by even Matt. She refused to even play video games with him, and barely spoke more than two words at a time when he was around.

She ignored everyone, and went off on her own increasingly often, to think, and be left alone...At those times, when no one else was there, she let her composure break, and the reality of Mello's dissappearance take over her. She pounded on the ground, the wall, tore out her hair, crying out, kicking whatever was nearest to her with all her might, and sobbing.

It just wasn't _right_ that he would do this. That he would just abandon her and Matt, not even trusting them enough to give an explanation or to say anything to her at all. It was cold, and utterly _selfish_. She couldn't forgive him for abandoning her-the only thing she'd ever truly feared from him-Him leaving her.

She grew to hate him, unable to let go of the anger and bitter resentment towards him. Had Mello ever truly been her friend? She'd wondered. Well, if he had, he wasn't anymore. He was a traitor...one she might never see again.

Deep down, Sun hoped that Mello would suffer for his actions, for his ignorance and disgegard to her. She hoped that he would pay, one day.

What happened to the rosary and the notebook that he'd left behind: Sun burned the note that Mello had left with a match, setting it aflame, and watched the tiny shoots of fire lick at the corners of the paper, then roar to life, and slowly consume it, until it was merely a pile of ashes, that blew away in the wind.

The rosary she threw into the bottom drawer of her nightstand, and forgot about it for the rest of her days at the orphanage.


	3. Memories in Between I

**First, a tribut to Shadowapple, for contributing ideas to this chapter --and the next one--SO MUCH, without her it woudl be wayyyy morrreee boring!!!! Couldn't do it without you! THANKS.**

**That is all. **

**Read and enjoy. =) These are flashbacks with Mello and Matt when they were both at Wammy's. **

* * *

_"Another place, another time_  
_We toed the same side of the line_  
_Yeah we saw eye to eye_

_Even then the saddest sounds,_  
_Were nothing laughter could not drown_  
_But we are not laughing now"_

* * *

[April 6, 2006]

Matt sat on his bed, in the same position he'd been in for four hours, his eyes affixed to the screen in front of him. Gun fire, explossions, and then yells and shouts of people on the field filled his ears, coming from the game.

A moody blonde kicked the doorway, letting his friend know he was there. "Hey Matt." He said. The gamer's eyes didn't move from the screen. Matt continued to smash buttons on the controller rapidly, advancing the lines, and blowing things up, while at the same time, taking some nasty sniper fire in his back.

"Matt!"

"Huh?" Matt replied, paying no attention to what Mello was doing or saying, at the moment. His player threw a grenade at a nearby enemy base, and he blinked with the victory, sneering at the unseen foes, as if they knew the boy who had just blasted them to peices.

Then he bit his lip, flitting a glance at Mello briefly, willing him to go away, so he could continue to play his game in peace.

"Matt!!" Mello said, chucking his bar of chocolate at the gamer, hitting him square in the side of his head.

"Ow!" Matt exclaimed.

"Will you stop playing that thing already?! You've been on it for four hours straight!" Matt didn't answer, not even grunting.

"Four. D***. Hours, Matt!! Get off now and help me study!" Mello said, scowing at Matt.

"Alright, Alright! In a few minutes, Mello." Matt promised, half-heartedly.

"Get off now!" Mello said, and stepped in front of the screen, blocking the view. Matt leaned to the left, trying to see around the sudden obstruction, but it wouldn't go away. Mello growled.

"Why can't you go study with Sun instead, or something?" Matt asked, belatedly remembering the fact that Sun had stolen Mello's chocolate earlier, and Mello was still mad at her.

Mello glanced back at him, as Matt blew up a tank, and shot down five more bad guys with his repeating rifle.

The devious blonde walked over slowly to where the power outlet was, unnoticed by the fixed gamer. Then he yanked the plug, and the screen suddenly blaked out.

Matt looked over and saw Mello twirling the cord around the air, with a smug smirk on his face.

"D*** it!!!! What the h*** was that for?!?!" Matt yelled, loosing it, throwing the controller at the blonde instinctively, missing, and cursing again. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!" He cried. "Now I have to start all over!!!!"

"You're the one who wouldn't get off!" Mello replied, equally as loud. "It's your own fault! You and your stupid video game addiction--I'm sick of putting up with it. I need someone to study with!!"

"Oh yeah?" Matt retorted. "Well I'm sick of putting up with you and your insane chocolate obsession, and you making me go buy you more all the time. I bet you wouldn't even last a week without eating atleast five bars a day!"

"I could to!"

Matt laughed. "Yeah right--Mello without chocolate for a week?! Haha! When the sun freezes over!!"

Mello grunted. "Yeah? And what about your video games?! You wouldn't even last a day without your eyes glued to that d*** screen."

"Oh yeah? Wanna bet?" Matt challenged.

"Yeah, sure. If you can go a week without video games, then I'll buy my own chocolate for once. But if you loose..." Mello tapped his foot, thinking. Then an evil grin spread across his face.

"Then you have to write "I love Mrs. Johnson" with hearts and flowers all over the chalkboard before school starts."

Mrs. Johnson was their history teacher, and she was one of the most stict-est teachers in the orphanage. Matt always got a beating if he was ever caught playing his PSP in class, and get detention for like a week. This was like hell for him.

"What?! No!!" Matt protested.

"Yep." Mello said, heartlessly. Matt succumbed, as an idea for _Mello'_s loosing terms came to his head.

"Okay, fine. If you go a week without chocolate, I'll keep buying it for you. But if _you lose_," A grin tugged at the gamer's lips, but he tried to bite it back until he finished. "then you have to wear a shirt that has "I LOVE NEAR" written all over it." Matt then doubled over in laughter, unable to hold it in any longer.

"WHAT?!?!?!" Mello grabbed Matt's shirt and yanked him foward. "There's no way I'm gonna do that!!!!" He yelled. "F*** you!"

Matt gasped. "AHH! He said the F word!! Everybody run away, while you still can!!!!" He yelled, throwing his hands up in the air and turning around to an imaginary audience, even though there was no one there.

"Shut up!" Mello snapped.

Matt laughed.

--

_Four days later_...

Matt sat foward on his bed, his eye twitching, his gaze focused straight ahead. He couldn't concentrate on studying, or anything else for that matter. He just sat there, frozen, his foot tapping up and down.

He wasn't sure he could do this any more. How had he even survived this long?? His gloved hands twitched maddenlingly, his brain filled with the thoughts of only one thing: video games.

He _had _to play them. He could barely take it any more!

Matt got up, grunting, holding his head in his hands and pacing the room, with his eyes squeezed shut. He yelled in frustration, tyring to fight back the impulse that tugged at every muscle of his body.

Suddenly, he ran into something solid, and stumbled back, falling on the floor. He opened his eyes. His dresser...

That was it. He couldn't do this. First he was loosing the ability to talk, or to even think straight, now he was running into things. If he didn't do something about it soon, he was going to go insane. Or maybe he already was.

His PSP cried out to him.

_"Come on, Matt, you know you want to play me. Just one game...Mello will never find out_..."

No...

_"You can't live without me! Just admit it_! _Give innnn...It's okay..._"

Matt took the game out of his drawer, tucked it under his striped shirt and into his belt line, glancing furtively around outside his door before he walked out, acting normal, so as not to cause any suspiscion. He couldn't let Mello catch him, or it would mean that he had lost the bet.

--

Meanwhile, Mello sat in the common room watching an education program with some of the other kids, not really paying attention, as he sat in the corner, glaring at no one in particular.

Sun just watched him, amused. She always found it amusing when he was like this. It brightened her day to antagonize him to a similiar state, but it seemed his lack of chocolate had already done it for her. She figured she should just leave him be...She left, to go do something else.

What the h*** had he been thinking, when he'd agreed to compete with Matt on this bet? How long had it been since he'd had a bar of chocolate?? Four days? Four weeks??

It took all he had to keep his thoughts from the venomous, tempting delicacy. He'd thought coming in here and watching whatever crap they were talking about on the tv would help him get his mind off of it, but it hadn't helped one bit. Luckily, Sun wasn't around to increase his agitation. She'd just left.

Mello stood abruptly, growling to himself, his fist clenched. A few of the other kids cast nervous glances at him, as he stalked out of the room determinedly. _Get a grip on yourself_. He thought. _There's no way I'm about to let that obsessed gamer win this_. He scoffed. _I know I can win this. There's no way he can go longer than me without his video games. Over my dead body_.

After a while, Mello realized Matt wasn't anywhere inside. He checked in all the usual places- nothing. What was he up to? Mello went outside, the only place he hadn't checked. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of blak and white, to his right, up in a tree.

Mello walked over slowly, to investigate. He knew something was up. He got close enough to see the gamer a few paces from the base of the trunk. He was hunched over something, totally unaware of Mello standing there.

"AHA!" He yelled, pointing his finger. "I WIN!!"

"Wha--??" Matt was so startled he rocked, and fell out of the limb he was perched on. "AHgh!" He moaned, as he hit the ground, and lie there. How could he have been so stupid. He'd just lost. Mello'd caught him. D***... he sighed, and got up, as Mello grinned at him triumphantly. He had to write on Mrs.s Johnson's board...and get detention...this sucked.

--

_The next day_...

Mello tipped his head towards the classroom door, as they stood outside in the hallway.

"Pay up." He said, nodding with an evil grin. "You lost. So now you have to do what I said. Go on." Sun laughed, tagging along with Mello, to watch.

Matt went into the classroom.

"I'll tell you if anyone's coming." Mello said.

Matt picked up the peice of chalk, and wrote on the board, in all caps.

I LOVE YOU, MRS. JOHNSON. (with big hearts all over)

--LOVE MATT

Sun snickered, along with Mello. They all mingled in the classroom, as the other students slowly started appearing. History was their first subject on Thursdays, and Mrs. Johnson was always late.

Matt sank down into his seet, trying not to laugh despite himself. The others saw what was written on the board, and either questioned it, or made snide comments to him.

"Who did that?"

"Matt..."

"Oo--oo!" One jeered.

"You're gonna get in trouble!" Matt's gaze was glued to his PSP screen now, that he hid beneath the desk. Then he heard the teacher coming in, and quickly tucked it away.

Mello smirked, waiting for it smugly.

"In your seats, everyone." Mrs. Johnson ordered sternly. Then she turned and caught sight of the board, reading it; her eyes narrowed, and then went to the culprit of the message.

"MATT!"

"Yes ma'am..." Matt said, looking up at the teacher.

"What's the meaning of this? I appreciate the kind message, but I DON'T RECALL GIVING YOU PERMISSION TO WRITE ON MY CHALK BOARD. Explain yourself!"

"I uh..." Matt trailed off, not bothering to try to make an excuse. "Well, I just...wanted to let you know how much you mean to me, Mrs. Johnson." He offered up, with a pathetic 'charming' smile.

"Detention after school, young man." She said, giving the gamer a meanful look. Everyone else jeered at him, while Mello smirked triumphantly, biting a peice of his choclolate bar.

Sun scoffed to herself. If she were him, she would've beaten Mello...How lame.

* * *

[July 13, 2006]

Mello searched in his room frantically, throwing leather pants, and jackets aside, yanking drawers open and ransacking their contents vigourously, letting out grunts and growls of increasing frustration and horror as he went.

He looked under his bed, underneath the dresser...on the ceiling?? Behind the door...

Nothing. Nothing...but wrappers. _What the h***!!!!_

"**D*** IT**!!!!" He yelled, with a death grip on one of the wrappers, punching the wall with a level of fury and violence that he only had when _this _happened.

Matt came out of his room next door, and peeped in from around the doorway, to see what all the racket was. He got a very bad feeling when he saw the clothes and other crap strewn about on Mello's floor, and an abnormal absence of chocolate in Mello's hand. That, plus his insane yelling and commotion, could only mean one thing.

He was about to duck back out of the doorway, and take off, when Mello lunged foward and grabbed the gamer's shirt violently, his eyes wide with half-crazed rage.

"Hey--" Matt mumbled reflexively, as Mello shoved the empty wrapper in his clenched fist in Matt's face.

"Matt!!!!!" He said. "What the h*** is this?!!?" He yelled.

"Uh...Um well it's a chocolate wrapper...essentially the packaging for a chocolate bar." Matt replied flatly, glancing with slight apphrehension at the gloved hand clenching his blak and white shirt up into a tight ball of material.

"I _know _what it is, smart alic!! Tell me why the h*** _this _is all that I have? Why didn't you go buy more!?!?!"

Matt put his hands up calmly, waving him aside. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't know we were almost out, okay. Don't worry, I'm going." Matt backed up, and out of the room, gritting his teeth, and sighing inwardly. He knew better than to delay. Mello was...a maniac, if he didn't get his chocolate. He turned into an insane lunatic and would start on a crazy, psychotic rampage if he didn not get the object of his addiction when he wanted it.

(Okay, maybe that was a _small _exxaggeration, but Mello definately did get very, very moody, and excessively violent to anyone who so much as gave him a wrong look, without his chocolate.)

Matt pulled on his vest, and took some cash from Mello's nightstand, which he kept just to buy chocolate (the monstrous blonde had mysteriously dissappeared, probably to try to find some chocolate in the kitchen). He hurried out after getting permission to leave, (the gates were open) and headed for the nearest convenient store, about a mile away. As he jogged down the street, Matt thought, _D***, I really need to get a skate board or something_...He hated running. Why the h*** couldn't Mello get his own d*** chocolate, anyway? He wondered.

He reached the store about 10 minutes later, sweating, and slighly worn out. He walked inside hurredly, trying not to think about walking/running such a long way and not going to the video game store in town.

--

Meanwhile, Mello raded the kitchen in Wammy's, madly opening and slamming closed cabinets, searching for any kind of chocolate that was any good at all, to satisfy his insane obession, but there was nothing.

"D*** it!!" Mello cursed. What the h*** was wrong with Roger?? Why wasn't there any d*** chocolate around here?? There was usually a whole stash somewhere in the pantry, but there was nothing there now. He really needed to go grocery shopping. All Mello found was some lousy unsweetened chocolate bars, and a bottle of chocolate syrup.

--

Matt walked into the store, and located the candy aisle. He walked into it, and took the entire stack of every kind of milk chocolate there was, counting about thirty bars. He hauled them up to the check out counter, ans spotted the cashier, as he looked up, after adjusting his goggles briefly. It was a hot chick, with a cute brown bob cut, and crystalline blue eyes. She wore silver hoop earings, and light lipgloss, and on her body, a tight blak sweater-vest with a green collared shirt underneath, and blue jeans that fit her figure nicely. She smiled tightly at him, and looked down at the stack of chocolate Matt'd dropped onto the counter.

He stared at her for a second, before grinning to himself, and flipping his hair to the side with a toss of his head.

"Mind ringing all these up for me...er--beautiful?" He said, turning on his meager charm. He watched a light blush appear on the girl's bright face, his nerves humming faintly in the background of his mind.

"Not at all." She replied, starting to ring up the large stack.

Matt never really saw a lot of cute girls in real life, (he hated going out; this was one of the disadvantages of it). So the whole charming thing was new to him. But he did his best. _Take your time_...He thought, instantly regretting it, as there was a dangerous blonde animal waiting for him back at the orphanage...

He stood at the counter with his hands tucked inside his vest pockets.

"So, how's it going? The name's Matt, by the way. What's yours?" he asked.

"Trisha." She answered.

"Nice." Matt said. _Ok...what do I say now..._? He thought, momentarily running out of things to say to her. She finished ringing up all of the chocolate bars.

"That'll be £40.00." She said. Matt dug into his vest pocket and pulled out the amount, and handing it to her.

"Did anyone ever tell you you're really pretty?" Matt asked, watching her as she printed out the receipt, and hauled the bag of chocolate bars onto the counter. She stopped, blushing again, trying to hide a slight grin as she looked at the gamer. "I get it from time to time." She answered. "You're pretty hansome yourself."

Matt's eyes widened behind his orange-tinted goggles at that, and he blinked, then he grinned. _Yes_.

"So...then how about a date sometime?" He said slowly, leaning one arm on the counter slightly.

Trisha grinned at him. She obviously liked him. "Uh-Sure." She answered, and Matt silently thanked Mello's strange obsession with chocolate; for once, something good of it had come to him. But he didn't have the time to make plans, unfortunately. If he didn't get back to the orphanage soon, Melllo would be up one side and down the other with him. He scribbed his cell phone number on the back of the receipt she'd given him with a pen from a display on the counter, and slid it foward over to her, grinning charmingly.

"My number--I gotta go now, but call me later." He said, smiling at her, taking the chocolate and heading for the door, happily. His phone was dead back at the orphanage. He would have to charge it really soon. Like as soon as he got back.

"See ya." She said, waving. Matt grinned again, and strutted out of the door, feeling like he was at the top of the world. He'd just got a girlfriend. Mello would be jealous. Then again, he probably wouldn't care (because of Sun). But Matt did.

* * *

[March 7, 2005]

Dessert for the night at Wammy's (it was a special day) was chocolate cake, to Mello's satisfaction. He had as many peices as he could get away with (about four) while the others whined that he got more than them.

Matt sat across the table as usual, Sun beside him.

"....And they have all new characters, like Toon Link and Lucario, or better versions of the older characters, like Marth and Bowser! And the graphics...! It's like you're actually IN the game!"

"Sounds like fun." Sun said half heartendly, not genuinely even following Matt's words.

"Yeah, I mean, I've never been a_ huge _fan of Super Smash Bros, but Brawl was voted fighting game OF THE YEAR!! That's awesome. And the music has over 300 tracks..." Matt continued to go on and on about it.

"No one cares, Matt." Mello finally said, cutting the gamer's consistant drone off, rolling his eyes. He stabbed his cake with his fork and shoved another piece into his already bulging cheeks. "Spare us, will you?"

Sun saw Matt glare at the blonde chocoholic, and couldn't hold back a snicker. Matt just turned his attention back to his ninendo, aware of Sun's muffled laughter, and ignored Mello for the rest of the time.

Mello just sniffed indifferently.

* * *

_"You talk about the way things were_  
_But I can't hear what you're saying_  
_A time when life was not this hard_  
_Blessed by the innocence"_


	4. Memories in Between II

**Okay and this chapter is about flashbacks with Sun and Mello, with Matt in some, back when they were all at Wammy's. Hope you love it. ;)**

* * *

_"I've been thinking of everything  
I used to want to be  
I've been thinking of everything  
Of me, of you and me"_

* * *

[June 20, 2005]

"Mello. I've had enough of this behavior." Roger said, his hands folded neatly before him on his desk, as the blonde boy stood before him, summoned upon knowledge of his most recent act against Near, destroying the albino's favorite toy...

"I have told you this time and time again, have I not?"

Mello just stared at Roger indifferently, not flinching, grinding his back teeth a little.

"Now you are going to your room right now, and you are to stay there, until I tell you you can come out." Roger took the boy's hand and lead him out. "Come on now."

Roger lead Mello down the hall, and shut him inside his room, giving him a meaningful look before he shut the door on him. Mello sighed, after he heard Roger's footsteps fade. D*** Near. He hated that albino creep! He clenched and unclenched his fist, fuming.

Then he snatched a chocolate bar lying on his bed and ripped it open, biting a chunk out of the milky goodness, effectively diverting his thoughts. He paced paced around the room absently, his mind wandering on its own.

Just then, Sun burst in, skipping randomly. "Sup, Mels. What'd you get in trouble for this time?" She asked, leaning against his dresser, kicking a chocolate wrapper aside, towards him, wearing a hint of a smirk.

"Get out. And I told you not to call me that."

"No. Your not the boss of me. You're stuck in here, so there's nothing _you _can do about it."

Sun stuck her tongue out at him, continuing,

"I'm not leaving. I'm bored...Matt won't get off his PSP, and there's nothing else to do around here..."

"I don't care." Mello deadpanned. "Just leave me alone! Go away."

"No!" Sun replied, defiantly.

Mello growled, fixing her with a fierce glare.

"You know you don't scare me." Sun said, looking into his seething cerulean eyes, that were so sharp and clear under his messy blonde hair hanging down around his face.

Mello grunted, digging his teeth into his chocolate and snapping a peice off of the bar, grinding it between his teeth. He threw the bar onto the bed, and stood up, in Sun's face. Her attitude was really p**ssing him off right now.

"Are you _trying_ to pick a fight with me?" Sun didn't hide the grin from her face upon his aroused anger. It was what she had been hoping for, making Mello mad, to cure her boredom.

"No." She lied, sarcasticness audible in her voice. "Are you trying to pick a fight with _me_?"

"What the h*** are you talking about?! _You're _the one who's p****** _me_ off. If you don't go away, I swear I'll punch you."

"Go ahead and do it." She said, laughing. "Or are you too scared to hit a _girl_?" Sun taunted him.

"Not by a long shot." Mello growled, his fist itching to smash itself into her "You better be careful what you say."

"Says the one who gets in trouble for pitching a fit in class because he just isn't good enough to beat Near!" Sun retorted. That was it; upon the mention of Near's name, Mello's fist flew out and slammed into Sun's face, he letting out a loud, abrupt growl, before Sun could even react, knocking her to the ground.

Sun groaned, moving to get up quickly. His sudden, unanticipated move ticked her off. She hadn't been quick enough to block it. She thrashed her leg out at Mello, her ire directed at him. The blonde stumbled back.

"Ow! What the h***!!" He cursed, and threw another punch at Sun, blindly. He didn't have any qualms at all about hitting her. She wasn't a girl--she was--an _animal_. His blow connected with Sun's jaw, she too slow to block it, reaching up to stop his arm belatedly. But when Sun fell, to the floor, her scowl turned into a devious grin, that was hid by her hair, covering her face. She lie there, motionless, and didn't get up.

"Sun?" Mello said, when she didn't move. "Get up you wimp!" He kicked her with his foot." When she still didn't stirr, Mello grunted, and knelt down over her, and turned her head over so he could see her was when Sun opened her eyes, grinning, and laughed out loud.

"What the h***!!!" Mello exlaimed, freaking at her. "You faker!" He said. Sun pretended to be angry.

"Get off me! You pervert!" She yelled, as he knelt over her, half-straddling her.

His eyes widened, and his voice rose. "I'm not a pervert!! You looked like you were _unconscious_!!!"

"So what if I was? Why should you care?" Sun asked, blowing a strand of hair out of her pretty face, smirking at his face, as he scowled, easily taking the bait.

"I didn't! I just didn't want your body lying around in the middle of my floor!!" Mello snapped.

Sun got up, purposely stepping on his chocolate bar, that Mello'd had dropped in the scuffle, making it snap in half when she stood up, causing Mello to bristle. She stifled another giggle.

"I can't believe you even fell for that, loser." She said nonchalantly, not looking at him. Mello didn't say anything. He was so mad, it took all he had not to start beating the crap out of her right there. He didn't want to get into any more trouble then he was already in. She could easily go tell Roger what had just happened, and then he would get more punishment...

"Just shut up." He said, retrieving a new bar of chocolate from his drawer, unwrapping it, and taking a bit out of it. "And get out already."

Sun didn't move. He glared at her, and slammed the drawer shut again with much more force than needed.

"Don't you have anything better to do??" he asked, going to sit back down on his bed. He opened a book, and began to study.

"Not really." She got up and sat on the bed next to him, causing him to cast a side-glance at her, as he swallowed a peice of chocolate. She watched over his shoulder, which was extremely irritation. Mello grunted, wondering if she could get any more annoying at the moment. But after a while, he got used to it, and didn't pay any more attention to her, his head buried in mountains of calculus and algebra equations.

****

* * *

[July 11, 2006]

Today it was a warm, sunny day outside Wammy's House, in Winchester England. The grass was green, the sky was blue, and the leaves of the trees blew softly in the slight summer breeze, the sun shining bright overhead.

Roger was out on some important trip, and all the kids were taking advantage of his absence, to bend all of the rules, and play outside with absolutely no restrictions. Today, they decided on organizing a game of kickball, and were choosing team captains, while Near stayed inside, (along with a few of the other kids who didn't want to play), sitting on the ledge by one of the windows in the common room, working on a sculpture of multi-colored blockes, while gazing absently out at the other kids playing outside, and twirling a snowy lock of his hair around his finger. He didn't care much for outdoor activities, particularly in the summer. He liked it indoors, where it was nice and cool, and he wasn't outside sweating and running around pointlessly. He wasn't very athetic. In comparison, he and Mello were polar opposites.

Matt sat under a tree a little ways away outside, in the shade, his attention affixed completely on the PSP screen in front of him. He payed no attention to anyone or anything around him, and they paid no attention to him. Except for Sun. She picked up a random rock, and tossed it over at Matt's head, snickering whne it hit the target, and the gamer looked up, glancing around to see who or what was the culprit for whatever'd just hit his head.

Sun waved when he caught sight of her. Matt just glared, and returned his attention back to his game.

The two kickball teams were always "L" and "Watari".

"I'll be captain of team L!" James, one of the younger kids, said quickly (naively), before Mello had a chance to claim the title he always held.

"No-I wan't to be the captain!" Whined Todd, a caramel haired boy with softer features, and a pinch of chubbyness.

"You're both stupid. I'm team captain!" Mello interluded firmly. He walked over to stand in front of them all,s ecuring his position, which left a vacant spot where the captain of team Watari would stand, once picked.

Some of the other kids grumbled, making obvious grunts of resentment, while James let out a sigh of frustrated disappointment.

"Alright, I'm team L captain!" Mello said, standing there dominently, impossible to go up against. He waited for someone to step up to be team Watari captain. Sun stared at him, seeing through his stupid act of arrogance and overconfidence.

"Why does _Mello _always get to be the captain?"

"He's _always_ team captain..."

"Yeah, it's not fair." They all complained.

"Hey Mello, why don't you let someone else be captain for once!" James said, stepping foward bolding and pointing his finger angrily at the tyrannical blond.

"Huh? What did you just say?" Mello asked, his gaze sharpening at James as the boy stood there alone, unsupported by any of the others, who were too scared to challenge him, with the exception of Sun, who didn't mind that Mello was captain all of the time. She didn't care, so she didn't argue with it.

Jame's composure immediately went down hill, his expression shifting to fear and nervousness, and regret of stepping foward to challenge the blonde. Mello glared at him, his eyes narrowing into thin slits, the look designed for intimidation. It worked.

"I uh--um...h" James stuttered weekely.

"No one else is captain of team L except for me!" Mello said, raising his voice, and jabbing his thumb into his chest. "That's the rule." Sun rolled her eyes, unimpressed. "Now-"

She suddenly piped up from the crowd, and walked up to the front, to stand beside Mello.

"I'll be captain of team Watari." She said, before he could even finish his sentence, to challenge the group and see who would step up to be the other captain. The others there agreed quickly, cheering with affirmatives. Sun was one of the only people completely unafraid to stand up to the blondie, who was second in line to become L's successor.

Mello turned to glare at her, surprised.

"And I get to pick first." Sun said. Mello grunted, staring at her menacingly.

"No you don't." He said.

Sun ignored him, and pointed to Will. "I choose Will." She said.

"Hey--What the h*** do you think you're doing, Sun?!" Mello growled, outraged. "I pick first!!"

"Not today." Sun said, glaring at him with a fearless smirk. The others watched a bit nervously, as Mello's anger rose, and the blonde looked utterly PO'd. But Mello surprisingly just went along with it. He jabbed his index finger out, pointing at Todd.

"You." He said. Todd scurried over to Mello's side.

They both went back and forth picking their team mates, casting glares and sneers at each other, as they competed to get the best team members. Finally, Team L and Team Watari separated, Team Watari kicking first, and Team L out in the field. The teams were about even.

Mello crumpled up the wrapper of his devoured chocolate bar, and threw it on the ground-which he knew Roger would yell at him for, that is, if the old man were here. He wasn't. And Mello would just blame someone else for littering the ground, if he were. The blonde took up his usual position at first base, leaving the pitching to Todd.

The game started. Team Watari scored three homeruns before striking out the third time, and switching sides. As Sun passed Mello, walking out to the field with the rest of her team members, she put her thumb and forefinger on her forehead at him, in the internation "Loser" sign. Mello glared ahd grunted, and as he stood third in line to kick, mouthed "You're going down.", which Sun just narrowed her eyes, and scoffed at.

Team L scored five homeruns, two more than Team Watari.

Team Watari was up to kick again. Mello took up first base once more after they switched sides, triumphant that his team was in the lead over Sun's. Sun was in fourth position to kick. Todd was pitching again. James kicked first, then Will, both of them making it passed Mello with focused effort and determination.

Then Far was up to kick. She did a fly ball, that Todd caught, giving team Watari their first strike. Sun was up next to kick. As she waited for Todd to pitch the ball to her, Mello caught her gaze, and grinned cockily, pointing at her, and giving her a thumbs down, with a look that said "You're gonna lose". Sun shook her head, glaring at him. There was no way she was going to lose to him.

"Hey--Sun!" One of her teamates said, when the ball rolled right past her, completely unnoticed by Sun. She'd been to busy glaring at Mello to notice that Todd had already pitched the ball.

"Nice one!" One of the others jeered from the field, laughing along with Mello. Sun clenched her fists, and tossed the ball back to Todd, for a redo. This time, she concentrated on it as it rolled towards her. She needed to get a homerun, that would bring them tied with Team L, 5-5.

Her foot connected with the ball, and she sent it flying high through the air, and took off running.

Mello took out a chocolate bar and ripped off a chunk of it with his teeth, confident that he was going to win, the way this game was going. That was, until he saw the ball soar up and over the gate, landing meters away in the grass, still rolling.

"Huh?" He said,

Sun's team mates cheered and yell. James hit home base, and Will third, Sun running for first, while Mello stood there, still in shock. Then he came to, to realize she was running towards him. He narrowed his eyes. There was no way he would let her get a home run! Three home runs in one kick..._That _was out of the question!!! How dare she even _try _to pull that off. He had _no_ intention of letting her pass...And there was only one thing he could do.

As Sun was about to pass him, he stuck his foot out, right in her path. She didn't even see it.

Sun gasped, as suddenly she found herself plummeting hard to the ground, falling flat on her face in the grass, and biting the dust. What just happened?! One minute she'd been about to touch first base, go onto second, then third, and fourth, while none of Mello's teamates could do anything about it (until they retrieved the ball from the other side of the gate, which gave her more than enough time to make it to home base), then next, she had her face burried in the grass.

Then Sun remembered who guarded first base...Mello. He'd just _tripped_ her!!

"Whoops!" Mello said, looking away innocently, then looking back down at her, with an evil smirk, as Sun got up, rising to her feet again, furious.

"Mello!! What the h*** was that for?!?!" She cried.

"What are you talking about?!" Mello yelled back in fake outrage. "Like it's my fault your such an oaf!! Watch where you're going, will you?!" But the previous smirk he wore still tugged at his lips.

Sun's eyes narrowed harshly, her teeth gritting. Her anger boiled fiercly inside of her, and suddenly, it overtook her, spiking hotely, as intensely bright and burning as her own alias. Her fist swung out at the arogant, smirking blonde, and Mello never saw it coming.

She hit him square in the jaw, a solid, hard punch that knocked him down to the ground.

His stupid cocky overconfidence...acting like he was better than everyone else, had brought this upon him. Sun's fury poured out of her, as she savored the satisfaction that caem from feeling her fist slamming into his stupid, arrogant face.

Mello lie there, utterly taken aback for a few seconds. The other kids had stopped all together, when they noticed what had happneed, and began to come closer slowly, cautiously, towards them, excited murmers and shouts coming from their vicinity.

"Whoa--she just punched him right to the ground!" someone whispered.

"Way to go, Sun!" James said, laughing. Sun scowled down at Mello, paying no attention to anyone around her. But then her ears registered what he'd just said, and a slow smirk spread across her face.

Then Mello finally seemed to take hold of what had just happned, and his own anger broke out, a dangerous, hot volcanoe spewing lava out...

He got up slowly, wiping his mouth with the back of his Sun, and glaring at Sun with a level of intensity that could've scared the wits out of the devil himself. His cyan eyes held a lethal, murderous glint in them.

Worried murmurs arose from the crowd, and some backed away, scared as h*** at Mello's scary demeanor.

"Why you..." He said, his fist clenching tightly, as Sun smirked at him, not in the least daunted by his almost homicidal act, her eyes dancing triumphantly at him, saying "Whatcha gonna do?" to him silently; taunting him.

Mello growled, his fury simmering inside of him. He stalked towards her, with a maliscious grin, ready to tackle her. But then he halted, as he realized that everyone was watching them. If he made a move to hurt her, it would make him look like a monster--for 'hitting a girl', even if she had just punched him to the ground. If one of them tattled about this to Roger--he could get grounded for God knows how long.

Mello stared into Sun's eyes, deep fury swimming in them. "You're gonna pay for that." He hissed to her under his breath, though clenched teeth, low enough so only she could hear him. He wasn't very far away from her, only inches between them.

Sun just scoffed, her eyes narrowing at him, her smirk lessoning, but still traced faintly on her face. She returned his smoldering look with just as much intensity, meeting his death glare head on, unflinchingly. Mello sneered at her, then turned on his heal, and stormed off, away from the field.

"I'm done." He said, sholdering his way through the crowd of people watching them. _That_ was what always p***** him off. The way she stood up to him, like he was stome kind of push over. Yet a small part of him seemed to respect her guts, in a way. A very distant part of him, that he ignored.

It mostly just irked him completely that Sun dare challenge him or act like she was better than him, when she knew she wasn't. He couldn't stand it. She would pay. She'd get what was coming to her, that was for sure.

--

The others watched him go, but Sun turned, and stalked off in the other direction, away from them, heading inside.

"Me too." She said, her tone of voice suggesting that they not stop her, nor mess with her, at all. (The same went, without saying, for Mello.)

--

NEW HIGH SCORE  
101, 997, 560

'Matt Jeavs'

Matt looked at the screen triumphantly, then looked over when a furious Mello sat down next to him, visciously tearing away a peice of his choclate with his teeth, scowling at the world for all he knew or cared.  
"Sup, Mel-"

"Shut up, Matt." Mello snapped, continuing to stare straight ahead. Matt just turned his attention back to his game with a frown. Judging by the look on his friend's face, and his attitude, something between him and Sun had happened again. It was the same look he always got when he'd gotten into a fight with either Near or Sun, or even when either of them had done something to p** him off. Since Near had been inside all this time, he ruled the culprit out to be Sun.

He could also tell it had ended badly. It usually did, and he was usally the one who had to make peace again with them. He'd probably missed it while they had been playing kickball or whatever in the courtyard. Matt sighed.  
Mello and Sun were always getting into fights. They were practically rivals.

If the earth was still rotating around the sun, then they were still fighting. They were both so stubborn; so much alike that they were always getting onto each other.

He'd have plenty of time to fix this, whatever it was, later. Right after he finished this game.

* * *

_"The remains of summer memories_  
_Spent so far away_

_Now that promises we're broken_  
_Enemies were made.."_


	5. Whereabouts

_"So let's pack our bags and settle down where palm trees grow_  
_I've got some friends, some that I hardly know_

_I've been here so long; think that its time to move"_

* * *

[December 5, 2007]

Mello had a temproary [fake] ID with an alias and everything, so there wasn't anyway anyone at Wammy's could track him down after he left. He would dissappear without a trace, and be on his way, to start his own life. Each of L's two potentioal successor had a portion of his legacy left behind in their name. Mello had taken his when he'd left Wammy's, and it would get him plenty far.

No one knew where he'd gone, or where he was now since he'd left Wammy's, and that was how intended to keep it.

At the airport, he booked a flight, to the same destination as Near was moving to: America. He waited for the time of boarding.

At 4:00 a.m., he boarded the plane.

Right now, he didn not look back. His eyes were set on one goal, of being number one, of catching Kira before Near did, and third, avenging L's death. He stared out the window, as the plane began to take off, the wheels rising off the ground, and into the air. Soon all he could see was clouds, in the dark sky as dawn started it's slow breaking.

When his mind wandered, he thought about what it was like back at the orphanage (mainly for Sun and Matt, no, exclusively about them) without him, but he pushed those thoughts away. He didn't need to waste time wallowing in the past with his goal in front of him that he would accomplish, at any cost. He did miss them, but it was a completely nessassary sacrifice. He couldn't afford to let it weigh him down or slow him down at all. He left his old life behind just like that, and moved foward, make his one path, one that would lead to being at the top, at last--it was where he _belonged, _and he would take his place there, in time.

Fourteen long hours later, Mello got off the plane, into the American airport. He soaked in the sights around him, with interest. Par tof him felt like a lost kid, all alone, trying to make his way into the world. But that part...would soon be competely discarded.

Here, there were different faces, different accents, clothes, smells, colors...It was a different country. He'd left his old life completely behind now. He'd left England, and moved here to America, just as Near had. But they would definately not be working together. Mello would start his own investigation, as soon as he set up his life. But first, he needed a plan...

Mello walked throw the unfamiliar airport in the country he was now in, America, seeing that their signs were different, and when he took a short trip into the public restroom, things there were different as well. It wouldn't take much getting used to. Though what would take some getting used to...was being alone. Without Sun, without Matt, by his side. He had left them..and wasn't coming back until he achieved his goal.

After he retrieved his luggage, he left, and called a taxi. His destination he set for the small apartment that he'd invested in, cheap, and suitable for him to live in.

Over the next few months, he bought a gun, new clothes, and some other stuff that was nessassary. Then, he needed to formulate a plan to take him to where he needed to go. That plan would start here.

* * *

[December 6, 2007]

Mello walked down the streets; it was evening. There were palm trees, swaying in the warm breeze, something he'd never seen before in real life up until the time he'd got out of the airport.

There were casinoes, bars, 5 star hotels...celebrities hosting private parties...paparatzi, all around the town. He liked this city.

Mello leaned against the building as the sun began to set, with an unwrapped choclate bar in his hand, a pair of sunglasses shading his eyes, and the hood of his wool-trimmed red leather jacket. This was the beginning of life on his own now, and he was determined to make the most of it, determined to succeed, and beat Near, and catch Kira. He would find a way, make a plan...and win. No matter what it took.

He would become the best. He was in American now, He was located in the state of California; no one would ever guess this was where he was. He lived here for now. And here was where he would establish contacts, allies, connections...that he could use in order to track down and pursue Kira, and to out-class Near's own investigation.

His hold friends, left behind, were forgotten now. They didn't need him, and they didn't have any intentions of catching Kira like he didd. He was on his own, alone, and that was the way he intended to keep it. Sun, and Matt...had their own lives, to do what they wanted to with. As for him, he was here. And he didn't regret leaving them...much. But for some reason, Sun especially stayed in his mind, and haunted him. He just tried to ignore it, left them both behind, and move foward...and keep running, to win the race.

The memories of them back at the orphanage that seemd like so long again still stayed in his mind. But those days were gone now...

* * *

_"Go, giving up your home_  
_Go, leaving all you've known_

_With arms up, stretched into the sky_  
_With eyes like, echoes in the night_  
_Hiding from the hell that you've been through_  
_Silent one, you..."_


	6. Mello's Pursuit of Kira

**Okay here is an account of all of Mello's activites up until the time he contacts Matt! the '//' means a short skip in the scene. Forgive me if I mess up the dates. I hope I got them all right. I tried to make everything as thorough as possible. =). Please correct me if I got something wrong.**

_****_

**Kidnapping Kanichi Takimura and Sayu Yagami**

_Three and a half years later_

Mello had destroyed all hidden records of his real name, and all photos of himself. Then he joined the Mafia in Las Angelus, California, killing their current boss, and becoming the new leader. From then on, he used them to find out the location of Near's Task Force, the SPK, and the Japanese Task Force (JTF), gaining information from both of the sources with spies working for him, and using it to lead his own investigation.

One and a half years after joining the Mafia, and learning of the Death Note's existance, Mello made his move. He planned to get a hold of the notebook, and kidnapped the director of the NPA, Kanichi Takimura. From him he obtained information on the JTF's current members, and intended to exchange Takimura for the notebook.

[October 9, 2012]

_Mello descended the stairs to the first floor slowly, then entered the room, the door opening up to reveal Takimura sitting bound and gagged in a chair, with some of the mafia men standing around him. He took a bite of his chocolate._

_"Has he decided to say anything yet?" Rod asked, walking into the room with Mello._

_"He told us the Japanese police have begun to wimp out on Kira. Looks like now the only ones who are officially working for L are Soichiro Yagami, Kanzo Mogi, and Touta Matsuda. Isn't that right?"_

_"Yeah..." The director answered, hunched over. "There was also Ukita, but he was killed by Kira." __//Mello walked over to the director to stand over him, the other two moving out of the way for him. _

_"Of all the investigators on the task force, Deputy Director Yagami would be the highest ranking, right?"_

_"Y-yeah..." _

_//"Hm." Mello's hand rose in the air, pointing to the ceiling like a gun. "My theory is that there are two notebooks out there. One of them's in Kira's posession, and the other is with the NPA." His fingers retracted into a fist, that he lowered back down to his chest. "We're gonna take both."_

But before he could set up the bargain for the notebook with the NPA, Kira killed the director. Then Mello kidnapped the Deputy Director's daughter, Sayu Yagami, to use in Takimura's place. He contacted Chief Yagami, and informed him that the director was dead, and that he had his daughter now:

[October 12, 2012]

"_This is Yagami."_

"_Look, about trading the director in exchange for the notebook, the deal's been canceled. The new deal is this: the notebook, for Sayu Yagami… __Seeing as you're the deputy director of the Japanese police, it would be stupid to ask you not to call the cops. But you had better handle this on your own, without back-up. If I see the police making any big movements in the next little while, I'll kill your daughter. __T__hat's right, just as easily as we killed the director. I'll send you a photo of Takimura's corpse to prove I mean business. Take a good look. I'll contact you tomorrow."_

Mello did contact Yagami again the next day as he'd said, telling him to meet him in L.A. in two days, with the notebook, to exchange for his daughter. One of his men went with Yagami and made sure he boarded the specific flight Mello had arranged, giving Yagami an earpiece through which Mello spoke to him. The plane deliberately went off course, and dropped Yagami off at the scene where the excange would take place underground, out in the middle of nowhere, after Mello demanded that Soichiro contact L and have him secure a media black out, because if Soichiro were shown getting off the plane (alone), he would be killed by Kira. Once Yagami was dropped off, Mello instructed him to tell L to send a helicopter, threatening that if anything other than that came within a radius of two miles that he would kill him and his daughter. Then Yagami entered the underground facility as directed by Mello, and was met by Y462, Mello watched the exchange take place on his laptop back at the Mafia HQ.

_//Yagami stood on once side of the glass, with Sayu trapped inside another. _

_Y462 instructed Yagami on what to do, upon Mello's 'okay' to go ahead. "Slide the notebook through there. Once that's done, I'll release the lock, we'll both step back, and spin the glass door. The notebook will end up on my side, and the girl on yours. However, if you don't agree to this trade, I'll shoot your daughter through this opening."_

_//The trade was done, and Yagami walked away unharmed, with Sayu in his arms. _

Mello then launched the Death Note onto a missile to ensure it would not be tracked to the Mafia hideout by those watching him, and he had Snyder blow up the helicopter that Y462, the man who had carried out the exchange with Yagami, had escaped in, making it obvious to everyone who was watching them that the notebook was on the missile.

****

**Obtaining Notebook**

Once Mello had gotten a hold of the notebook, he wrote most of the names of the SPK members down in it, except three, four including Near. He killed the spies he had there as well, so there would be no way to trace them back to himself. The only ones he left alive were Anthony Rester, Stephen Giovanni, and Hal Lidner. Six days later, with the Death Note in his posession, Mello contacted Soichiro Yagami again.

[October 18, 2012]

_"Hey, Yagami. How's it been going? I'm glad you decided to let me keep in touch with you. The notebook here's definately the real deal. It's a lethal weapon, alright. But just having the notebook isn't enough to make me as powerful as Kira, because as you know, Kira can kill just knowing a person's face. I wonder **how** Kira knows a person's real name just by looking at their face..."_

_"We...don't know that right now. All we have assumed is that Kira only needs to see a person's face to kill them." Yagami replied._

_"Huh. Well if that's true, you Japanese cops really are useless, aren't you?" Mello scoffed. "In that case, there's just one more thing I want to ask you...When L died, who was it among you that took his place? You know the deal by now: you're not in any position to deny me an answer, that is, if you still value your daughter's life..." When there was a silence, Mello added, "You know I'm not bluffing, Yagami. I'll kill her..."_

_"...It's Touta Matsuda who took his place. But to be honest, he's just doing whatever we tell him to do to play the part of L, nothing more."_

_"Huh. I pretty much figured on something along that line. The new L is below incompetant. Heh. In any event, if I decide I feel like killing him, I'll just force you to give me the pictures of all the members of your pathetic task force. Since I already have all of your names..." Mello laughed._

_"What?!--That's nonsense--I could never--" Mello hung up the line._

After obtaining this piece of information, Mello then got Snyder to get him in touch with the President. He used the notebook in an attempt to blackmail the president, telling him that if he helped him catch Kira, then they would let the president have Kira's notebook, which everyone wanted to get their hands on. And in exchange for giving him the notebook, the President's cooporation, as well as immunity. He told the President to give them all the information he could obtain on the SPK, and keep them informed on their activites, as well as funds for weapons, and access to satellite surveillance, in a discreet way that no one would suspect. However, the attempt failed, as the notebook was recaptured and the Mafia killed before anything could happen.

At the Mafia hideout, Mello was sitting contemplating the extent that he could use the notebook to control people, waiting for the President's reply, when it suddenly flew up and fell onto Jack Snyder. Syder saw the shinigami who was responsible for the action, going into suddenly erratic and panicky behavior at the horific sight, and he convinced them all to touch the notebook upon Shidoh informing him that only those who have touched the notebook could see him. After doing so, the shinigami's existance had became apparent to them all, several members trying to shoot it, with no avail.

_Mello turned, with wide eyes, and watched the notebook drop onto Snyder. When Snyder turned to look, he suddenly yelled, falling out of his chair, and pointing at the air in front of him, at something that no one else could see, his eyes widened with fright._

_"Boss!! Who is this?! The guy in the freaky costume--who the h*** is he? Who brought him here?!?!---A-a shinigami?" He laughed shakily, then got up, holding the notebook out. "He says you can see him if you touch the notebook. Please, everyone touch it! I swear I'm not crazy!"_

_Everyone did, and suddenly they were all able to see the thing. They all yelled simultaneoulsly: "WHO IS THAT!?!" "THAT WASN'T THERE THE LAST TIME I TOUCHED IT!!" "BOSS, SHOULD I KILL IT?!" and shot at him, but he didn't go down. _

_"Nice try. You humans can't kill a shinigami." Shidoh had said. _

_"Uh?"_

_"Jack's right." Rod said, being the first to lower his gun. "That ain't no costume. That's a real live shinigami. So now what do we do?"_

Mello learned the shinigami's name was Shidoh, and that he had come to take back his notebook. Shidoh then told them that the two rules written in the back were fake.

_Shidoh gnawed on the chocolate bar Mello had consented he have. "Chocolate is so good..." He remarked._

_"Hey, what about that stuff you told us, is it true?" Rod asked. " 'If the person who's using the notebook fails to consecutively write names of people to be killed within thirteen days of each other, then the user will die.' 'If you make this note unusable by tearing it up or burning it, all the humans who have touched the note till then will die.' Are you saying these two rules were made up?" _

_"Oh yeah, those rules are definately fake." Shidoh said, as he nibbled the chocolate continuously. "My guess is some shinigami wrote those down as a joke before giving it to a human."_

_Mello had sat their, thrown into a string of revelutionary thoughts. _

That was where he had determined that the thirteen day rule could be tested out using one of their people. But the real question to him was, whether this notebook was once used by Kira, and if it was, whether Kira was aware that the rules in the back were both fake. If Kira had known, then he could've used the rules to his advantage; the thirteen day rule allowing him to prove his innocence in only thirteen days. Mello instructed the shinigami Shidoh to keep watch outside, and hung out there in the room. But then suddenly things went awry.

****

**Losing the Notebook**

_November 10, 2010_

_All at once, almost all of the Mafia members yelled, clutching their throats, then collapsed, dead, of heart attacks. Mello snapped off a peice of chocolate grimly, his eyes narrowing, hearing explosions, and seeing two of the security cam views on the laptop set on the table went static. // __Mello cursed; got up and sprinted upstairs, yelling at the two who weren't dead, Roy and Skeeter to bring the notebook, which was under Rod's body, upstairs._

_But they didn't make it before the police barged in, spraying riot gas and shooting the two men down, as Mello made it up to the surveillance room. They took the notebook. Then they came up, and Yagami was the one to step foot in the surveillance room, looking around for Mello, who stood in the shadows, waiting. Mello pressed the trigger in his hands, blowing up the two entrances to the hideout. Then he called out in the darkness, warning the police not to go any further and to do as he say, or else he would blow up the rest of the building, along with them._

_Mello ordered the one with the notebook to come into the room, and take off his helmet. Yagami was the one who stepped into the light, doing as he said, and Mello turned on the moniters, sitting on the console, with the bomb trigger in his hands. __"Yagami again, huh? Maybe I should've killed you when I had the chance. History repeats itself..but I never thought I'd be bargaining for the notebook with you again."_

_Yagami stared at the blonde, the notebook held open in front of him, pen in his hand. "M-I-H-A-E-L K-E-E-H-L. Your real name is: Mihael Keehl." He said. Mello's eyes widened. //"It's over Mello. It's time to turn yourself in." Yagami said. "If you give up, I won't kill you. You have my word on that."_

_//Suddenly, Jose rolled over, grabbed his rifle, and shot several rounds into the deputy director, until Yagami went down. Mello immediately got up, knowing the police would hear the gun shots, and grabbed the helmet Soichiro had worn. "Jose, the notebook!" He yelled. _

_Jose strugged to pry the thing away from the director's grip, but he couldn't get it out in time. "D*** this guy--he won't let go of it!!" The police came into the room, shining their spotlights on Mello, and the fallen director. They shot Jose down before he could sqeeze his own trigger, leaving Mello the only one standing. _

_"Deputy director!"_

_"It's all over Mello! Put your hands up and surrender." But Mello stood there, then pressed the second trigger of the bomb, remote still in his hand. Everything went white, and he managed to avoid getting blown up himself, and escaped, the left side of his face badly burnt, strips of charred flesh hanging off of his cheek. But he was alive, and the police hadn't caught him. _

_****_

**Recovery**

After losing his base of opperation, and his most valuable tool, Mello decided to relocate to New York for the time being. He knew the SPK headquarters were there. And he needed more information that would get him closer to catching Kira. Plus, Mello had recently discovered that he had left behind one of his photos at the orphanage, and he knew that Near would have retrieved it.

He targeted the most vulnerable of the three remaining members other than Near, Hal Lidner, and contacted her outside the watch of the task force, following her home to her apartment, and catching her as she came out of the shower, into the bedroom, with towel wrapped around her, and one on her head.

_Hal gasped, when she caught the motion in the corner of her eye. She turned to see a gun pointed at her head._

_"So you're alive?" Hal said, recognizing him from the photo Near had kept. Mello just stared at her, snapping off a peice of his chocolate. His eyes flickered distantly, as he caught sight of her wet blonde treads hanging out from underneath the towel on her head, and saw her golden gazel eyes. They [forcefully] reminded him of--Sun. _

_Hal looked almost like an older version of her. But Mello had showed nothing in his demanor in those few seconds, to indicate any sign of being affected by her appearance. But inside, deep down, he felt some sort of burning. He didn't know why it hurt--maybe because he missed her, and Matt. But it'd been so long since those days back at the orphanage. Those were pastimes, that would never return. _

Hal gave him all the information the SPK currently had, as far as Mello knew. Through her cooporation Mello learned that Near supsected the 'New L' of the Japanese Task Force to be Kira, which changed things for him. She also informed him that the sec With Hal as his hostage, Mello went to the SPK headquarters, his gun to the back of her head. Near let him in, and there he retrieved his photograph of himself, back at the orphange, five years ago.

_"Mello, welcome."// _

_Near tossed the photo to him, and Mello caught it by his head, between his index and middle finger, looking at it, turning it over to see the 'Dear Mello' written on the back. Seeing this ressurrected memories of his past, that made him...ache inside. For Sun...after seeing the faint ressemblance between her and Hal...it stung. _

_"I can't say for one-hundred percent certain, but it should be impossible for you to be killed by the notebook. Is that the only business you have with me, Mello?"_

_Mello grunted. "Near--Let's get one thing straight. I have no intention of working together with you on this."_

_"Yes, I know."_

_"At the same time--" Mello continued, "I can't just take my photograph and leave, that wouldn't be right. So I'll settle my debt."_

_"Hm?"_

_"The killer notebook...it belongs to a shinigami." Mello said. "Whoever touches it can see a god of death." //"The notebook I obtained previously belonged to another shinigami, perhaps even Kira himself. Also, some of the rules written inside are actually fake. That's all I can tell you for now." Mello then turned, to leave, but stopped at the door._

_"Near."_

_"Mello." _

_Mello took a chocolate bar from his leather coat, unrapped it, and took a bit. Near twirled a snowy lock of his hair around one finger._

_"Which one of us will reach Kira first, I wonder?"_

_"The race is on..."_

_"We're both headed towards the same destination. I'll be waiting for you."_

_"Huh-right." Mello left, the door sliding open for him, and his boots clicking on the tile, as he walking away, down the hall. _

_****_

**Moving to Japan**

After learning that the leader of the Japanese Task Force was suspected by Near and the others to be Kira, Mello moved his investigation to Japan. At the japanese airport, Mello stopped and saw Demigawa, the current pathetic spokesperson for Kira, on a live broadcast. It was back in New York, and Mello recognized the building on the screen. It was the SPK headquarters. They had the building surrounded and a huge mob outside, and it looked like they were trying to force Near and the others out of the building. But it would never be that easy to get Near to give up. He knew he would find a way out of it.

Mello located a new base, similiar in quality to where he had stayed when he'd first moved to America. It was an out of the way, inconspicuous abandoned apartment building in the backstreets of Tokyo, suitable to him.

He realized that he needed help in order to catch Kira once and for all. He first needed to find a way to get to him without getting himself killed. From Hal he'd learned that Mogi and Aizawa were currently following the alleged second Kira. Mello needed someone to spy on them, to find out his identity. Along with that, Kira would choose a new spokesperson soon. Mello planned to catch Kira through whoever he chose next. It was the best way.

But he couldn't carry out his plan on his own. He needed a partner-someone reliable, with good skils...whom he could count on. The person who crossed Mello's mind was surprising.

Matt. He didn't know anyone who would be a better choice. He hadn't seen or talked to Matt in over five years...But the guy was certain to be living on his own now, leaving the orphanage...Perhaps now was a good time to reconnect. He knew Matt would help him...

****

**Ooh cliffhanger! Right? Yeah... I only made it a cliff hanger cause I have writers block on this next part. lolz X( GO AWAY!!! I need to write!**


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